 So sudden and violent was the impact when she ran aground, the radio operator had been unable to send a distress call out on the radio as the aerials had been carried away by the storm.For several hours she was bumped and pounded as the heavy sea battered her hull, and eventually the hull was ripped apart amidships.She was still sounding her siren as a distress signal, but the two halves slowly drifted apart and were soon out of sight of each other, the stern section being carried away by the force of the gale.